On August 14, Canada’s federal ethics office issued a report finding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used his position to seek to influence a decision of the Attorney General of Canada relating to a criminal prosecution involving a Canadian corporation based in Montreal.

The 63-page report, released by the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, was prepared by Commissioner Mario Dion.

Dion concludes in the report that Trudeau violated section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act.

Section 9 prohibits public office holders from using their position to seek to influence a decision of another person to further their own private interests or those of their relatives or friends, or to improperly further another person’s private interests.

Included in the report is a summary of the official response from Trudeau’s legal counsel denying culpability.

Sometime on or before February 2, 2020, a by-election must be held for the seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for the electoral district of Ottawa-Vanier.

On August 2, the Chief Electoral Officer of Ontario received a notice of vacancy for the position from the Assembly.

MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers, who had announced her intention to leave office on May 16, resigned on July 31 to begin working August 1 as the Principal of Massey College at the University of Toronto.

Any by-election in the province must be called within six months of the Chief Electoral Officer receiving notice of the vacancy.

Because of a clerical error by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, voters in the state will not have a chance to vote on two recently passed constitutional amendments until 2022 at the earliest.

In 2018, the Iowa legislature passed two constitutional amendments. One proposed amendment requires any review of state legislation affecting the right to own firearms be subject to a judicial review standard of strict scrutiny.

The other proposed amendment deals with the line of gubernatorial succession for any vacancies of that office.

For the amendments to be added the state’s constitution, they must be passed a second time by the next sitting legislature and then be voted on by the citizens of the state.

However, after an amendment’s first passage, notice must be given to voters three months prior to the election of the next legislature.

According to Governing.com, the secretary of state’s office missed the deadline to file the notice for the public, requiring the process to restart and resulting in the earliest opportunity for the amendments to appear for voters’ approval to be 2022.

On July 31, three members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly will resign their positions to seek federal positions.

The members, Chris D’Entremont, Alfie MacLeod, and Eddie Orrell, have been nominated as candidates for the Conservative Party of Canada.

The three are required to step down before the writ period begins for the fall elections.

By-elections for the soon-to-be-vacant provincial seats have not been yet been called.

On July 11, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) issued three Advisory Opinions addressing diverse campaign finance issues.

In Advisory Opinion 2019-08, the FEC found a campaign committee was free to distribute digital blockchain tokens, having no monetary values, to volunteers and supporters as incentives for those individual to participate in campaign activities. The Commission concluded the tokens do not constitute compensation, but rather are “materially indistinguishable” from traditional forms of campaign souvenirs.

In Advisory Opinion 2019-09, the FEC determined a nonconnected political committee may sell t-shirts bearing the facial likenesses and names of certain candidates because the committee intends on treating the entire purchase price of the t-shirts as contributions falling under regular campaign finance reporting requirements and contribution limits.

In the third decision issued, Advisory Opinion 2019-12, the FEC said it is permissible for a corporation to offer cybersecurity services to federal candidates and political committees under a “low to no cost” pricing tier that the corporation offers to all qualified non-political customers in the ordinary course of business. The FEC concluded the proposal would not be considered an in-kind contribution.

A bill meant to permanently ban former members of Congress from lobbying the U.S. Legislature was introduced in the House on June 21 by U.S. Representative Angie Craig.

House Bill 3419, the HUMBLE (Halt Unchecked Member Benefits with Lobbying Elimination) Act, would prohibit former Members and elected officers of Congress from lobbying Congress at any time after leaving office.

The legislation also prohibits Members of the House of Representatives from owning individual stocks while in office.

Additionally, the bill prohibits use of government funds for first-class airline accommodations.

The bill also eliminates certain benefits currently available to former members of the House, such as access to parking, athletic facilities, and the House members’ dining room.

“A lifetime ban on lobbying will ensure that Congress is no longer a revolving door of influence, and banning individual stock ownership will cut down on conflicts of interest and show that Congress has its priorities straight so that we can advocate for policies that will improve lives and expand economic opportunity for every Minnesotan,” said Craig in her press release.

On June 21, Gov. Kim Reynolds called a special election for House District 46.

The special election will fill the vacancy left by the resignation of State Representative Lisa Heddens.

Heddens resigned on June 17 to serve on the Story County Board of Supervisors.

Reynolds has set the special election for August 6.

On June 18, a federal appellate court affirmed the legality of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pay-to-play rule.

In New York Republican State Committee v. SEC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found the SEC’s Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rule 2030 constitutional.

The rule prohibits a placement agent from accepting compensation for soliciting government business from certain candidates and elected officials within two years of having contributed to such an official’s electoral campaign or to the transition or inaugural expenses of a successful candidate.

The New York Republican State Committee and the Tennessee Republican Party had argued the SEC did not have authority to enact the rule, the order adopting the rule was arbitrary and capricious because there was insufficient evidence it was needed, and the rule violated the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

While the court found the plaintiffs had standing, it ruled against all their arguments and upheld the rule.

On June 10, a bi-partisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate to amend the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).

The bill would provide the U.S. Attorney General greater authority to promote enforcement of the law and increase disclosure requirements of agents of foreign principals.

Senate Bill 1762 requires foreign agents to disclose their clients immediately so policy makers can evaluate their positions in light of those associations.

Additionally, the bill requires the Justice Department to craft a comprehensive FARA enforcement strategy, and creates oversight mechanisms to prevent abuse of the new authorities according to the press release of U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican sponsor of the bill.

The legislation would also establish a review of the Lobbying Disclosure Act exemption to determine whether and to what extent it has been abused for purposes of concealing foreign influence.

Only 15 violations of FARA have been criminally prosecuted since 1966 and “about half of those stemmed from Mr. Mueller’s investigation,” according to Grassley’s statement in his press release.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Dianne Feinstein.

On June 3, the 4th Session of the 41st Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, which began on November 20, 2018, adjourned until October 2, 2019.

Bill 2, The Municipal Amendment Act (Strengthening Codes of Conduct for Council Members), received Royal Assent on June 3.

The new law amends The Municipal Act to require a code of conduct for members of municipal councils be adopted through by-laws.

The code must include procedures for receiving and dealing with reports of contraventions, relevant sanctions, and training on the municipality’s code of conduct.

The new legislation requires each member of a council to undergo training.

Lawmakers plan to adjourn the Assembly again on November 7.

On May 28, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced the appointment of Tony Baptiste as Acting Inspector General of the agency.

Mr. Baptiste, who has worked with the Office of the Inspector General for 19 years, will leave his position at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“We look forward to working with him and drawing upon his deep expertise,” said Chair Ellen L. Weintraub in the FEC’s press release.

His appointment with the FEC becomes effective on May 28.

On May 22, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) will hold a virtual public hearing to gather comments for a proposed rule regarding executive branch officials and employees setting up legal expense funds.

The virtual public hearing will be recorded and a transcript of the hearing will be posted on OGE’s website.

The agency is seeking public comments even after the virtual hearing, with the comment period ending on June 14.

The OGE has also listed questions on its website for the public to consider in order to help the agency determine issues specifically related to legal expense funds.

Those questions include whether there should be contribution limits to legal expense funds; whether donations of pro bono legal services to legal expense funds should be permitted; and whether contributions should be subject to reporting requirements?

On May 14, a bill was introduced in the Minnesota House of Representatives to prohibit political candidates from accepting certain digital currency like bitcoin unless backed by an official legal currency.

House File 2884 would prohibit an individual, political committee, political fund, principal campaign committee, or party unit from soliciting or accepting a contribution or donation of any digital unit of exchange.

This includes but is not limited to bitcoin, that is not backed by a government-issued legal tender.

Under the bill, a person knowingly accepting any prohibited digital unit of exchange would be guilty of a felony.

The legislation also imposes a civil penalty of up to $3,000 for any individual, political committee, political fund, principal campaign committee, or party unit knowingly soliciting or accepting any digital unit of exchange.

On April 29, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for purposes of clarifying certain contributions.

Bill 103, the Election Finances Amendment Act (Leadership Fundraising Loophole) 2019, amends the Election Finances Act and provides that contributions to a leadership campaign following a leadership vote may only be used for the purpose of paying off campaign debt.

If passed, the private member’s bill introduced by MPP John Fraser, will come into effect on the day it receives Royal Assent.